Lost the Will to Sell?

*** Guest post by Flame Conference speaker Geoff Burch ***

Recently I have told audiences that I started off by sales training.  “Why train your salespeople,” I cry?  “So they can sell” comes back the reply!  “Sell what?” I shout.  “Sell more” they call back. 

Then, being too clever for my own good, I say that we must be careful of simple single objectives.  If one’s simple objective was to ‘get more money’ then the very best person to be instructing us would be a mugger. 

He would soon show us the best type of knife for mugging, the darkest alley to lurk in, and the most likely victim.  In minutes we could start mugging and we would soon have ‘more money’ as set down in our single simple objective.  Sure we would soon be arrested too but that wasn’t in the brief. 

I then go on to illustrate a few companies who do use the mugger style of sales training.  In these companies, sales do rise - a good thing.  Complaints, arrests and prosecutions also rise - a bad thing.  The HR department are set the task of putting this right and decide that the solution is a customer care course. 

The result is a mugger that jumps out, holds a knife to your throat and, with a fixed smile says, “I’m Derek, your mugger for this evening.  Thank you for sharing your wallet with me, have a nice day and missing you already!”

The Financial Times affectionately referred to the son of a Viennese psychiatrist, the uproarious and irreverent Geoff Burch, as “The Hell’s Angel of Management Consultancy.”

Geoff is giving two presentations at the FIA Conference.

You must be choking

**Guest post by Flame Conference speaker, Renzie Hanham ***

Expectation, scrutiny and consequences are a product of pressure, and they also create pressure. They can raise our performance to new heights or they can inhibit us to such an extent that we shut down, freeze and can’t perform. Happens as much in business as it does in sport.

These three aspects are related to outcomes. The more significant the outcome (an Olympic medal is pretty significant), the more pressure there is. And when the pressure is perceived as being severe enough our brains and body react accordingly.

Each situation we experience triggers an emotional and physiological response and prepares the body for action. After this, the information is transmitted to our brain, which analyses the detail and sends a message that prepares the body and considers whether the threat is real or not.

The problem is that once an emotion is turned on, it is difficult to turn it off. This can lead to freezing and, more significantly, panic. The brain in effect talks to itself.

Choking could be seen as a milder form of freeze. The individual can still perform but not to the same level because parts of their brain are shutting down. As a result, decision-making becomes difficult and the individual’s attention starts to fixate.

In essence they misrepresent what is happening and lose the ability to adapt and adjust. They lose the ability to think clearly and maintain an overview and their world shrinks as they react to what they perceive is happening. They reach their threshold for coping with the situation at hand and go into overwhelm.

I’ll be explaining how to manage overwhelm and turn it to your advantage at the FIA Conference later this month.

To book a place at the FIA Flame Conference call: 0207 8420 8560

Twitter Tips

*** Guest post by Flame Conference speaker, Frank Furness ***

Here are 3 tips that bring your more traffic without ever sending a single tweet.

Twitter Tip 1:

In the upper right hand corner of your Twitter page is the profile area, or information about you. One choice you have is what website you want to include a link to after the space marked “web.” Most people just send people to their main website. The problem is most people’s main website has no opt-in page so there is no way to capture the prospects email address.

So what you want to do is include a link to an opt-in page, or at least a page that has an opt-in box somewhere. While your followers on Twitter are a list, you also want to add them to your email list.

Also make sure you change the link every now and then to provide some variety.

Twitter Tip 2:

Also in the profile area in the upper right hand corner is a space to create your bio in 71 characters or less. Most people include things like “mother, father, internet marketer, CSI fan, love buttered popcorn” or some other way in which to be cute or funny.

As is often the case, don’t do what most people do. Instead, use the 71 characters in the bio to let your follower and prospect know what you can do for them. After all, your follower and prospect is looking at your Twitter page and asking “what’s in it for me?” So show them.

Twitter Tip 3:

Included in your profile section is a category called “favourites.” What most people do is link to their favourite tweets. Again, don’t do what most people do.

Instead favourite the positive things people are saying about you. Then when someone comes to your Twitter page and clicks on your Favourites, they can see all these “mini-testimonials” about you.

I’m looking forward to giving you loads of tips and tricks around Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Linkedin at the FIA Flame Conference on 27th June.

A Vital Shift in Priorities

***Guest post from Flame Conference speaker Mark Williamson, Director of Action for Happiness ***

There is a vitally important shift underway in how we think about progress. Growing numbers of economists, political leaders and expert commentators are calling for better measures of how well society is doing; measures that track not just our economic standard of living, but our overall quality of life. This shift also mirrors the way many of us are feeling too: that the modern consumer economy has failed to deliver fair outcomes and fulfilling lives.

In recent decades our lives have become increasingly orientated in the service of the economy, rather than the other way around. Yet economic growth is really just a means to an end; it only matters if it contributes to social progress and human wellbeing. And the tragedy is that decades of growth and material progress have failed to deliver a measurable increase in life satisfaction.

When Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he was asking the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to start measuring the UK's national wellbeing, this was greeted with derision and eye-rolling in the media. Critics suggested that it was a cynical attempt to distract us from our economic woes, or simply a waste of money at a time when there are more important things to worry about.

These concerns are understandable, but misplaced. It is of course difficult to trust a government that claims a commitment to wellbeing while simultaneously slashing funding for public services that contribute to it. But to see this only through a political lens would be to miss the point. Focusing on wellbeing isn't a distraction, it's about finding out what will really improve people's lives and then acting on it, which is surely what good government should be all about?"

Mark Williamson is Director of Action for Happiness. He will be presenting a seminar entitled “Ten Keys for Happier, More Productive Living”at the FIA Conference.

Book your place now or call 020 7420 8560 for more details.